CONTACTS

About Contact Lenses

So many advances are being made in contact lenses every day – improved comfort, correction for more vision types and healthier to wear, too. If you’ve ever been told that you can’t wear contacts, check with our doctor or any of our staff to see if there are new options available for you.

Most modern contacts are either “soft” lenses or gas permeable “rigid” lenses. Newer soft lens materials include silicone-hydrogels that contain a high percentage of water and provide more oxygen passing through to your eyes while they are being worn. These lenses are replaced on a routine schedule (daily, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually) to prevent build-up of irritants to the eye. Gas Permeable lenses are more resistant to build-ups and can last up to a year or more before needing to be replaced.

There are other specialty lenses are available to correct multifocal vision and astigmatism. Look below for more specific information.

Soft Lenses

Gas Permeable

Bifocal

Toric

Soft contact lenses are made of flexible plastic that allows oxygen to reach the eye. This makes them more comfortable to wear and easier to adjust to for new contact wearers. Newer lens materials include silicone-hydrogels that contain a high percentage of water and provide more oxygen to your eyes while they are being worn.These lenses are available in Disposable and Extended Wear varieties.

Rigid gas permeable lenses are more rigid than soft contact lenses and therefore generally more durable. Unlike older versions of “hard” contact lenses, rigid gas permeable lenses are made with silicone polymers, allowing oxygen to circulate to the cornea of the eye.Compared to soft contact lenses, rigid gas permeable contacts maintain their shape and offer clearer vision for some types of corrections. They are also easy to take care of and are extremely durable. The amount of time needed to adjust to rigid gas permeable contact lenses is longer than with soft contact lenses.To achieve maximum comfort, a rigid gas permeable contact lens should be worn every day.

Bifocal contact lenses are designed to give good vision to people who have Presbyopia. Presbyopia is the age-related change that affects the natural lens in the eye. Contact lens options for Presbyopia include bifocal and mono-vision designs. Mono-vision and bifocal designs come as both soft and rigid gas permeable lenses.A bifocal contact lens design has both the distance prescription and near prescription in one lens. Wearing mono-vision contact lenses means in one eye you wear the distance prescription while in the other eye you wear the near prescription.Contact lens wearers also have the option of wearing reading glasses over distance contact lenses. This combination allows for excellent distance and near vision. Glasses can also be prescribed over any of the above combinations to enhance vision as needed.

Toric contact lenses are special lenses for people with astigmatism. These lenses are made from the same material as other contact lenses and come in soft or rigid gas permeable forms.Like bifocal lenses, toric lenses have two powers, one for the astigmatism and another for nearsightedness or farsightedness. There is also a mechanism to keep the contact lens relatively stable on the eye when you blink or look around. Toric lenses are available in both single vision (for distance vision) and for reading as well (bifocal or progressive for seeing up close at near too)Both rigid gas permeable and soft contacts are available as extended wear options. Sleeping in extended wear contacts may decrease the flow of oxygen to the cornea, so it is important to wear them as directed and get routine check ups with your eye doctor.